PSYC 3360 Study Questions
What is achromatopsia? Akinetopsia? Prosopagnosia? What do these syndromes imply about the structure of the visual system? How does this conflict with our "folk theory" of vision?
Achromatopsia means cerebral color blindness. A person is unable to see or perceive colors. Akinetopsia is widespread damage to the brain which leads to motion blindness. A person would be unable to observe or sense moving objects correctly such as cars passing by the streets. Prosopagnosia is face blindness. This means that a person would be unable to recognize faces. The structure of the visual system is organized in a functional specialization. This would conflict with our "folk theory" of vision because some abilities are removed by damages.
What does the Neisser and Becklen demo (superimposed films of a hand game and a basketball game) say about visual attention?
Attention to superimposed events-can only focus on one
What is automaticity? What are the main characteristics of automatic (as opposed to controlled) process?
Automaticity is an automatic process that requires little to no attentional capacity. It does require practice in order to be more consistent in something. An example of this is learning how to drive. When it becomes more consistent with practice, you will not necessarily use attentional capacity to hit the brakes. You will just become active with little attention needed. The controlled process requires a more novice level of performance. We have to pay attention to the choices and put in effort.
What is Biederman's RBC theory? What are the major strengths of this theory?
Biederman's Recognition by Components theory says that we represent objects mentally in terms of seeing them as basic shapes/volumes or as geons, simple geometric icons in 2D or 3D. When looking at an object, our brain creates a geon structural description, meaning our visual input is matched to structural representations. The strengths of this theory are that we recognize objects best by identifying where geons come together, so even if parts of an image are missing, we can still identify them based on those spots where geons meet.
What is the difference between bottom-up and top-down processing? Give some examples of top down processing. Why would top-down processing be adaptive in natural or "real world" vision?
Bottom-up processing is a type of processing that is generated by the senses, which leads to the information traveling to the visual cortex, which is then integrated to the long term memory. On the contrary, Top Down Processing begins in the long term memory, which is then moved to the sensory store, in order to get integrated. Top down processing is important because the brain tries its best in terms of trying to process the information with the amount of knowledge we already have at hand, and makes its best guess in terms of filling in the blank. This is adaptive because the brain is trying to figure out the best way to approach the problem ahead of time. An example of a top down processing is trying to read a word scrambled sentence puzzle, even your brain see that the letter are scrambled your brain immediate is able to unscramble them because those words are already familiar to you.
How do connectionist memories work? How is an experience represented in a connectionist memory? How is a memory trace of an experience recorded within such a memory?
Bunch of neuron-like units connected to each other. Store and retrieve simple patterns by strengthening the connections The memory trace - change in connections - retrieve it → reactivate the pattern by inputting part of the pattern Not Stored in in one place -- it is through many neurons Distributed memory is not stored in just one place. The memory is traced to many different areas. Karl Lashleg: believed that we had an "Engram" where all of our memory is stored; however, found that our memories are scattered and not stored in ONE specific place in the brain Experience = active units Memory - stored in connections Alter connection strengths with repeated experience
What are the determinants of attentional allocation according to capacity theory?
Capacity theories emphasize the amount of mental effort required to perform tasks & are concerned with how effort is allocated to different activities. Capacity theory supplements bottleneck theory by proposing that the ability to perform simultaneous activities is limited when the activity require more mental effort than is available
What is cognitive psychology and how does it fit within the larger field of cognitive science?
Cognitive Psychology is the study of the structures that lead to the actual process of acquiring and application of knowledge. Cognitive Psychology is important to the larger field of cognitive science because it involves both the biological portion of science with the structures of the brain that help people learn and, most importantly, why they work and how this affects everyday life.
What is context-dependent memory? How does it illustrate the importance of memory cues at retrieval?
Context-dependent memory is where people are better at retrieving items, objects or scenarios in the first environment where they learned it, rather than if those people were placed in different environments than the original and asking them to retrieve those memories. Memory cues are important because the mind will use environmental cues to create a sort of an attachment needed for retrieval which makes it faster to find and this also adds to the fact that the environment does play a role in retrieval when it comes to the actual process of encoding.
What are the two main theories of forgetting from long-term memory? AT what stage of memory does each theory operate?
Decay- synaptic de-adaptation over time; occurs during storage Interference- effects of other memories; occurs during retrieval Interference theory Decay theory Forgetting occurs at a simple function of time, e.g., synaptic changes fade away over time Occurs during storage
What are schema defaults? How do they differ from defining features?
Default value- something we assume to be true unless someone tells us otherwise. They are assumptions we can rely on. They differ from defining features because they are not Individually necessary and Jointly sufficient . Defaults: are expected values Humans have 10 fingers, assumed until told differently. Not having 10 fingers doesn't make you less human. Defaults: an expected value of a particular attribute (slot) within the schema for a given category, e.g., the expected color of elephants is gray Defining Features: the necessary features that are essential to a category
What is "family resemblance?" What are some of the implications of the idea that natural categories are based on family resemblance rather than defining features?
Defined by within category and between category similarities with no defining features We don't expect people to have strict boundaries for categories. We classify items based on their typicality The closer the item is to the average the more likely we are to group it in the category
Why is sentience often regarded as a "mystery" rather than a "problem" (what is the difference?)? What does the computational theory of mind tell us about sentience?
Sentience is a conception of consciousness that focuses on the mystery of subjective experience or phenomenal awareness. We do not know if there is self-knowledge or if we have access to information (levels of awareness).
Understand how the right half of each retina (i.e., the left half of the visual field) projects to the right LGN, and the left half to the left LGN. What would be the effect of severing the optic nerve vs. the optic tract?
Severing the Optic nerve would be complete blindness. Severing the optic tract would cause a blindspot in one of the hemispheres, in this case the right side.
What are morphemes? What are morphological rules? How do they differ from phonological rules?
Smallest unit of language with meaning -Prefixes and suffixes you add to a word to give a meaning -rules for combining words and words parts into new words. Give implication for meaning Rules? Compounding of what you put together and differ between meaning and just sounding good Children understand "morphemes" As soon as they are able to understand questions
What is the difference between structural and functional imaging, in terms of what they show and what they are used for?
Structural imaging studies brain anatomy. --Provides highly detailed images of brain structures --Allows localization of stroke, tumor, etc. for better diagnostic and surgical intervention. Functional imaging studies brain function. --Imaging brain function in real-time (not just the structure of the brain)
What is Pavio's dual-code theory? What does the theory claim, and what evidence did Pavio gather to support it?
Dual code theory is Pavio's theory that there are separate verbal and visual representations for knowledge. The theory claims that concrete words such as "cat" or "cup" are remembered better than abstract words such as "honesty" or "mindframe" since they are not associated with calling a picture to mind. Concrete words are stored with two codes instead of one.
What is dualism and what is wrong with it as a philosophy of mind?
Dualism can be described as a "folk view" where the mind and body are seen as separate. Many people can be dualists and what's wrong with this philosophy of mind is that the mind and body work together and if the body gets hurt the mind knows and can react and if the mind is in danger of some sort the body will also be aware of something being wrong
What is the difference between the early-selection, late-selection, and attenuation theories?
Early-selection: there is a filtering or an attenuation process before one extracts meaning from a message. For example, the filter model says that an unattended message is never processed, which is why the meaning of the message is not in one's memory. Late-selection: an attended message and an unattended message are both processed, and it is only after processing that there is an analysis process to determine meaning. The meaning of the unattended meaning is processed and quickly forgotten. There is typically far better memory for the meaning of the attended message Attenuation: this theory is also an early-selection model, but instead of the meaning of the unattended message not being processed, this theory says that this meaning is processed but not enough to support memory for the meaning. So, an unattended message is still processed to some extent, but not learned.
Why is template theory implausible? In what sense are feature analysis models better than template models?
Template Theory Compare stimulus to set of templates/specific patterns stored in memory When exact match is found, perception is complete Compare template (pattern) with stimulus Cons: Extremely inflexible (perception can't tolerate not exact matches) Too much time for processing Feature analysis reduces the number of templates needed for matching (template for each feature vs each letter).
Explain the "spotlight metaphor" for visual attention. What are the main points it makes about visual attention?
The "Spotlight Metaphor" states basically that you can expand your spotlight past the fovea's centered area of attention; if we want to look at a hillside from a distance we would see a lot, but our vision would not be as detailed as if we were to focus our "visual spotlight" at maybe a specific tree on the hillside up close. The main point that the "Spotlight Metaphor" makes about visual attention is that we can increase or decrease our field of vision depending on how detailed we need something to be
Be familiar with the depth cues and gestalt principles we discussed in class.
Gestalt principles are: Proximity principles, Similarity principle, Continuity principle, Closure principle, and law of good form. His principles are based on the interpretation of patterns that are made explicit by how the lines of patterns are joined to other lines. The brain takes the simplest interpretations and runs with it. The depth cues are the highlighting and shadowing which helps the brain assume that the highlighted objects are seen closer than things further away. Texture gradient is another depth cue which allows the brain to make assumptions that objects are either closer or farther away. Linear perspective depth cues make the brain have assumptions to determine the distance of objects. Interposition depth cues help the brain make assumptions about the depth in objects covering up another object.
What are the major empirical findings regarding basic level categories? How does the basic level relate to expertise?
Greatest increase in shared attributes Most general level at which prototypes make sense (e.g., overlay pictures) Maximize within-category similarity and between-category dissimilarity The basic level relates to expertise because when someone is an expert they use superordinate levels to describe things. they are preferred for level , basic level is the highest level
What is some of the evidence that implicit and explicit memory really are different?
Hippocampal amnesiacs have damage to both sides of the hippocampus. They can learn new skills, but do not remember anything else, effects explicit memory but not implicit amnesiacs- H.M. unable to encode new events into memory, but can improve on perceptual-motor tasks through practice; you can break explicit memory w/o breaking implicit memory Implicit memory- memory or knowledge that cannot be consciously recalled or described Explicit memory- memories which can be consciously recalled or recognized
What is the Atkinson and Shiffrin model of short-term memory? How did forgetting occur in that model. What is the main way in which it differed from later models, such as Baddeley's model?
In the Atkinson and Shiffrin model of short-term memory, the duplex model of memory is where the short-term memory is a temporary storage. The first step is that the information that we receive will go through the short-term memory and will be processed. The second step is the information in the short-term memory that is being processed will either go to the long-term memory or it will be forgotten. This is also serves as a "working memory." Forgetting occurs through decay, which means that during the learning process the information that you gathered will fade away. Also, forgetting occurs through displacement. This means that in the short-term memory when the limited capacity has been reached. The short-term memory will push out the old information and replace it with a new one. The Atkinson and Shiffrin model is different from the Baddeley and Hitch model, which is called the tripartite model. In the Baddeley and Hitch model, there are two slave systems that are called visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop. The visuospatial sketchpad is used for storing and operating on the visual side of learning. The phonological loop is used for storing and operating on the verbal side of learning.
What is the main physiological evidence for feature detectors?
Individual neurons in monkey and cat cortexes respond best to particular shapes.
What is the "input" to the visual system? What is its "output"? What are three ways or levels at which this output can be described?
Input: A program that takes an input from a relevant sense organ, it is sent to the brain for processing, pattern of activity on the retinal surface Output: a continuously updated working model interpretation of the stimulus. a model of the scene in an external world. first person subjective experience.
What is the "hundred steps rule" and what are its implications for serial versus parallel processing in the brain?
The 100 step rule. Neurons are quite slow, take 5 milliseconds to send a signal. Processing in the brain can happen in less than 500 milliseconds, but since a neuron takes 5 milliseconds to fire, the process cannot involve more than 100 steps.
What are the implications of the cocktail party effect for each theory?
The cocktail party effect is a phenomenon which allows the brain to have the ability to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli e.g when we attend a party and are able to have a conversation with someone despite the noisy/distractions.
How would we know whether some advanced robot really had sentience the way we do? Does the information processing paradigm provide a way to answer that question?
The computational theory of mind would only explain how a physical brain can generate intelligent behavior. It cannot discriminate between sentient and non-sentient. We have NO way to explain why sentience exists.
What is the distractor task, and what was it thought to imply about the duration of short-term memory?
The distractor task is a task in which participants are presented a list with three items and then before being asked to recall the three items, instructed to perform a distractor task (such as being asked to count down from 100 or to solve arithmetic problems). After completing the distractor task(s) and then trying to recall or retrieve the list, participants struggle to remember the last few items on the task more than the first few. This task shows that the distraction eliminates the recency effect, the phenomenon in which there is a higher level of memory for the last items presented, but generally does not impact the primacy effect, in which there is higher level of memory for the first few items presented. This is because there was no opportunity for participants to rehearse the last few items since their brain was working on computing the distractor task
How does the phenomenon of phantom limbs illustrate the point that experience is a kind of "virtual reality" (cognitive simulation)?
The experience is a kind of "virtual reality" in which an amputated or missing limb is still present. This phenomenon is caused by the changes in the brain map(sensory "homunculus"). The mirror cue can trick the brain into thinking a limb is there when it's not. We don't experience things directly.
What is the function of the visuospatial sketchpad in Baddeley's model?
The function for visuospatial sketchpad in Baddeley's model is evidence which is selective inference. Which means visual interference with imagery based learning, and verbal will interference with a person's speech learning. The role for problem solving is reading comprehension. a component of working memory in Baddeley's model; used for storing and operating on visual representations a visuospatial sketchpad responsible for maintaining and manipulating visual or spatial information
What is the hardware-software distinction and how does it relate to the mind-body problem?
The hardware- software distinction correlates the mechanics behind a computer such as it's hardware and design to the body. The body has its own design along with organs that can be used to represent the pieces of hardware that can be found in a computer. The heart for example may be able to represent a solid state drive in a computer and the brain can take the place of a computer processing system (CPU). The software is found within the hardware such as the CPU which has various functions that assist in responding to what the computer's commands are; such as retrieving and executing instructions just as the mind would prompt one to lift up a pencil.
What is the role of the hippocampus in memory? Are memories stored in the hippocampus?
The hippocampus plays an important role in creating explicit long-term memory. Also, it sends out signals to have a memory stored, but memories are not stored in the hippocampus. If someone's hippocampus is cut out, it will not effect long-term member; it will only effect creating any memory
What did Kosslyn demonstrate about "image scanning" and the mental "zoom" function? What evidence does this work provide pertaining to the imagery debate?
Koslyn basically argued that people process images in a similar manner that people process perceptual information and that the analyzing process of visual patterns is also used for visual images. This is explained through image scanning, which is a shift of attention across a visual display or image, students were given a map in which they were asked to memorize the location of fictional objects with varying distances with the longest being 9 times farther than the shortest. The farther the two objects were the longer it took to confirm that they completed the task; meanwhile, the shorter the distance the faster it was completed. The results confirmed that people scan mental images similar to how someone scans a picture. An in-size comparison of two objects when mentally placed in the real world had a zooming effect. For instance, people that mentally imagined a rabbit and an elephant next to each other, when asked if they have ears? People were faster for the elephant because the larger the image the more detail that was in focus; meanwhile, for the rabbit, it took longer, because people would mentally zoom in on a smaller object, which increases the time of the object confirmation. Image Scanning demonstrates that people can memorize visual layouts and when shown a particular point on that layout, they are still able to accurately judge the distance between points from memory. Mental zoom is when we lose details when the image is larger.
How does each explain superior memory for the attended message in dichotic listening?
Late-processes meaning but are not attended messages are rapidly forgotten early-only the attended message will be understood. Attenuation-is processed for meaning to some extent but not enough. Leaky filter. DICHOTIC LISTENING (SHADOWING) EXPERIMENTS-simultaneous messages presented to both ears-Shadowing tasks; repeat one message as it is played-major result-very little information retained from the unattended message
Be able to summarize the procedure and results of S. Sternberg's memory scanning task. What are the competing theories of memory retrieval from short-term memory, and what evidence does the task provide with respect to these theories?
List was presented → given test item → yes or no if a number on the list was on the test item Parallel vs Serial (was right) theory Serial: Exhaustive vs. Self Terminating (self terminating = assumption that when looking through STM people stop looking once they find what they are looking for.) (exhaustive = always look at everything no matter what, i.e. looking at all ten marbles and at the end stating whether you saw the yellow marble)
Be able to summarize Shepard's work on "mental rotation". How does this work provide evidence for imagery theory?
List was presented → given test item → yes or no if a number on the list was on the test item Parallel vs Serial (was right) theory Serial: Exhaustive vs. Self Terminating (self terminating = assumption that when looking through STM people stop looking once they find what they are looking for.) (exhaustive = always look at everything no matter what, i.e. looking at all ten marbles and at the end stating whether you saw the yellow marble) Presented with a small memory set - short term mem "yes or no" vary from 1 to 6 items. More items there are, the longer it takes to retrieve one of them.
How would capacity theory explain the data on monitoring in dichotic listening?
The multimode theory: the observer can adopt any mode of attention demanded by or best suited to a particular task.
How is the primary visual cortex organized? What is the effect of injuries to the primary visual cortex?
The primary visual cortex has a retinotopic organization which means that adjacent areas of the cortex respond to adjacent locations of the visual field. It can cause blindness if damaged.
What are the implications of functionalism for strong AI?
The program is what matters and not the physical instantiation.
What is a receptive field? What cells have them?
The receptive field is the different types of sensory stimulus that feed into the sensory neuron, which make the stimuli to activate a single neuron. Receptive field can be found in the auditory system, somatosensory system, and visual system. In the auditory system, cells can be found in the cochlea hair cell because when we hear things there is a frequency or sound wave that we receive. In the somatosensory system, cells can be found at the regions of the skin or internal organs. For example, touch, pain, temperature, and movement. This affects the skin, joints, and muscles. In the visual system, cells can be found in the retina, which includes the optic nerve, photoreceptor cell, optic tract, and visual cortex. This gives us the ability to see light.
How is the secondary visual cortex organized? What is the effect of injuries to these areas?
The secondary visual cortex is organized by the type of information(shape, movement, color) over the entire visual field. The effects of injuries to these areas can lead to achromatopsia, akinetopsia, or prosopagnosia.
What are the 3 stages of any memory performance? Give examples of different variables that might affect each stage.
The three types of memory performance are encoding, storage, and retrieval. Some variables that may affect each stage are lack of sleep, excess amounts of stress and anxiety, depression problems, and usage of medication or alcohol.
What is the definition of a visual illusion? What causes illusions? What do they tell us about the role of tacit knowledge or a priori principles in visual perception?
The visual illusion is the incorrect interpretation of visual input. Incorrect assumptions cause illusions Illusions do not depend on conscious thought An illusion is a distortion of incorrect perception. Illusions are caused by manipulating situations in which our tacit knowledge (gestalt and depth cues) is wrong. Illusions don't depend on conscious thought.
In what sense is a neuron a simple "decision unit"?
These are simple sensations and simple threshold units. We have basic neurons that have not changed for many years. summate of all inputs>>compare to threshold>>if summed inputs exceed threshold, generate output.
What is capacity theory? How does it differ from the different types of "selection" theories?
This is when there is an interference between the degree completing a task while using the same mechanism. Capacity theory is different from other types of "selection" because it uses enduring disposition where people direct their attention to certain things. It also uses momentary intentions where it divides attention into certain aspects of the environment explaining the cocktail effect. Capacity Theory is when there is an interference between the degree completing a task while using the same mechanism. It is different from other types of "selection" theory because capacity theory uses enduring disposition where people direct their attention to certain things. Capacity theory also uses momentary intentions where it divides attention into certain aspects of the environment explaining the cocktail effect.
1. What is the "words-plus-rules" theory of language? 2. How do the properties of the "mental lexicon" differ from those of the grammatical rule system? What larger memory systems are each of these a part of?
Two-system view- Lexicon and Grammar. Vocabulary system (procedural) and a grammar system (semantic) Relates to past tense- - - some verbs are generated by rule and some are irregular (harder to learn) have to be memorized individually. Become part of the word system Some verbs are generated by rule and some are just irregular, the more irregular verbs there are, the harder the language is to learn Irregular verbs are part of the lexicon system and don't fall in the grammar rule 2. Mental dictionary. Semantic memory and rule is procedural memory Grammar is something you cannot articulate (implicit learning) 10min*** Vocab is declarative - semantic Grammar systems - procedural
Summarize the evidence that language is a uniquely human trait, which humans are in some sense biologically adapted to acquire.
Uniqueness •The character of human language •Rapid acquisition •Poverty of the stimulus •Sensitive periods in development •Effects of brain injuries
Discuss how the fan effect affects performance in experiments on sentence recognition.
Memorize list of sentences (e.g., of the form "subject is in location) "Fan" manipulation- vary the number of sentences containing each subject and each location Record latencies (RT's) in speeded recognition test RT's increase with fan Basically, you are more likely to recognize a sentence the more cues it has. For example in a multiple choice test, when all the answers look similar, we look for the sentence with multiple cues.
What factors increase/decrease the effectiveness of a memory cue?
Memory Cue Available / Fan Effects • Fan effect decreases effectiveness to memory, the more items/ things to be remembered the less effective that thing will be remembered • If the memory cue is available at the time of test, • Having more cues per memory helps us remember
What is the memory span? How is it affected by chunking? How is it explained by Baddeley's notion of the articulatory (phonological) loop?
Memory span is the number of correct items that people are able to recall in a particular sequence. For instance, People would be given a sequence of letters, such as AFGHJKV and are tasked to read and then memorize the sequence of letters, this is called the memory span task. Chunking can help with the limitation that the short term memory has with only being able to memorize 7 +/- 2 items. Chunking is essentially a cluster of items that can be stored in the long term memory. Chunking can be beneficial in terms of memorizing items in groups rather than a string of items. For instance, in the example, 'AFGHJKV' people would have a harder time memorizing it per letter but if it is grouped 'AFG-HJK-V' then it becomes tremendously easier to remember because it is being put into slots. It makes it overcome the limitation of seven items and makes it easier if it is grouped in two groups of three and one letter. This can be tied into the phonological loop because of the fact that it has two jobs one is to withhold verbal information and a rehearsal mechanism which helps it retain it in the phonological loop system. This combination of chunking and the phonological loop helps it transition into the long term memory.
What are the major characteristics of human language? You should be able to list these characteristics (see the first slide from the language lecture) and be able to explain each one.
Universality: Language is universal to all human societies. There was never a human society that didn't have some type of language. Written language was first invented by the Sumerians Uniqueness: Human trait. Language is the biggest difference between primates and humans. Language is the main form of human culture and communication. Arbitrariness: Words are arbitrary symbols. Productivity: There are infinite combinations to complete an open-ended communication system.. You aren't bound to certain topics) Regularity: There are structural rules (ex: grammar)
Are most of the workings of our perceptual systems available to introspection (conscious awareness)? What about other cognitive processes? Are most of them conscious or unconscious? Why?
Virtual reality: it's a construct of your nervous system. Your brain gives you a model of the true reality. Complexity: it's hard to recreate this Unconscious processing: this visual process is unconscious. We are only aware of the output. According the review sheet they said "no" it is not available, all unconscious. The visual system is smart, "cognitive unconscious" The "cognitive unconscious" the complexity of cognition, e.g., movement, vision, language cognition and consciousness most processing is unconscious we tend to be aware of the products, not the process, of cognition English manor analogy—complex process, most of the action occurs "off scene"
In what sense do neural networks perform "evidence summation"?
We have patterns that activate stimulation. We are adding up evidence like adding up positive and negative signals and deciding whether to fire or not or hypothesis of what is in your environment.
What are some limits of current functional imaging methods (especially the information provided by the BOLD signal)?
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of fMRI? -The biggest complaint from researchers is that fMRI can only look at blood flow in the brain. It can't home in on the activities of individual nerve cells (neurons), which are critical to mental function. -----Each area of the brain studied in fMRI is made up of thousands of individual neurons, each of which might have a unique story to tell. -----Because certain areas of the brain that "light up" on fMRI may represent a number of different functions, it's hard to tell exactly what kind of brain activity is being represented on the scan. -fMRI scan can be difficult to interpret
What is the function of the central executive in Baddeley's model of working memory?
a central executive responsible for selecting strategies and integrating information The central executive also plays a predominant role when people have to reach conclusions in a logical-reasoning task (Gilhooly, Logie, Wetherick, 8c Wynn, 1993). A secondary task that interfered with the central executive (generating random numbers) significantly impaired logical reasoning, but tasks that interfered with subvocalization or visual/spatial processing did not impair logical reasoning.
What is the phonological loop in Baddeley's model? What functions have been proposed for the phonological loop? What is some of the evidence for the acoustic/phonological character of this system?
a phonological loop responsible for maintaining and manipulating speech-based information the phonological loop has two components: a phonological store for holding verbal information and a rehearsal mechanism that keeps the information active in the phonological store. Evidence from research using positron-emission tomography (PET) supports this distinction by showing that different regions of the brain are responsible for the storage and rehearsal of verbal information Baddeley, Gathercole, and Papagno (1998) argue that the emphasis on studying acoustic coding in the memory span task should not obscure the fact that the most important role of the phonological loop is in learning how to pronounce new words. The phonological loop stores unfamiliar words until they are permanently learned and stored in LTM
What is a phrase? What is some evidence that they are coherent units within the syntactic structure of a sentence?
a syntactic structure that consists of more than one word but lacks the subject-predicate organization of a clause. Made out of words and group words into phrases. The brain must be making phrases in order to make meaning. The way you phrase things depend on how you convey meaning (grouping) Structure in the sentence, we can group the words in two big functional units (the subject in the sentence and the word phrase) Phrase: coherent syntactic unit that is made out of groups of words that forms a unit of meaning The meaning changes if you group it a certain way vs another way. Phrase structure: Layer of structure between the whole sentence and individual words by how they are grouped into phrases. Divide and group words into functional unitsà noun phrase & verb phrase Ex: A boy (noun) likes a girl (verb)
What is the fundamental debate with which we began our discussion on mental imagery"?
are there more mental representations in the brain? representational systems are there one or many description vs. depiction ( a picture simulation of something) Commonsense intuition vs. theoretical parsimony ( all else being equal. Does the evidence demand it?)
What type of processing at encoding tends to result in the highest levels of long-term memory? Does repetition alone (maintenance rehearsal) improve long-term memory?
consolidation? long term memory depends on the depth of processing -No effect of amount of maintenance rehearsal on LTM Elaboration, not rehearsal per se, facilitates LTM Levels of processing theory: LTM depends on depth of processing Three different processing tasks: Structural level- perceptual details of presented stimulus (word) *Phonemic level- visual stimulus converted to auditory (verbal) representation (deeper level of processing)* Semantic level- processing for meaning
How is memory like a document retrieval system? What role do memory cues play in memory retrieval?
memory is a lot like a document retrieval system. 'We use a search key.' That is basically what happens with a memory. we use memory cues to retrieve the information. It is a sort of reminder to access the information. 'the search key' whenever we start remembering something were have a cue of some sort Memory cue is a partial pattern. Retrieval is filling in the rest of the pattern Compared to library document-retrieval systems Retrieval cue= search key Memories= found documents
Summarize the evidence that mental images are not mere "pictures in the head"? In what way(s) do they seem different than "pictures in the head"?
Mental images are saturates with meaning o Selective in terms of their representations o memory biases o the effect of verbal labels peoples knowledge distort the image. Active distortion process based on knowledge o we have capacity limitations- People cant rotate an imagine in their minds and find something new. Our ability to examine an image without the image is very limited. This differs with complexity. Mental images are saturated with meaning which makes them vulnerable to verbal label distortion as well as memory bias *In what way(s) do they seem different than "pictures in the head"? • Pictures cannot rotate like mental images do Memory bias - Reversible figure - rabbit vs duck. They can't reverse it Distortions in mental maps. People think that Reno is West of Los Angeles when it's not. Memory is contaminated with conceptual knowledge
What are the major characteristics of schema representations? How is information about commonality and variability within a category represented in a schema?
Mental model or "schema" must contain information about: overall structure - dimensions or "slots" central tendency and variability of values or "fillers" on each dimension default values The average human male height is 5.10 we know 6ft is tall but not too weird, we know that 6.8 if abnormal Category has slots to define the category Schema = range of variability, captures more
What is "modularity"?
Modularity" is the theory that each part of the brain is made specifically for particular tasks, each of which have their own levels of importance but are all important for different processes.
What are the implications of illusions for naive realism? Does the fact that naive realism is false mean that we can't trust our senses, or that the world is an illusion?
Naive realism is The idea that we perceive the real world directly, as it actually is. It's false, representational, sometimes our model is wrong Implications of illusions for naive realism are that you're experiencing a "virtual reality." The fact that naive realism is false DOES NOT mean we can't trust our senses, or that the world is an illusion.
What is naïve realism? What are the implications of phantom limbs and other illusions for naïve realism?
Naïve realism is the belief that we see the world precisely as it actually is in truth. It goes by the saying of "seeing is believing". People who have phantom limbs will believe that they still have that limb because of the sensation and being conscious of it. They feel these illusions to be real.
In what sense are categories the "building blocks of knowledge and intelligence"? What are the basic functions of categories? Why would intelligence be impossible without them?
Organization: integration of knowledge into a system to make sense of environment- Schemas: basic cognitive structures; the building blocks of knowledge and intelligence; also consist of organized patterns of behavior called scripts used in different kinds of situations (e.g., how to behave at a wedding)- Adaptation: how a child handles information that he already knows.
What are "typicality effects"? What do they imply about categories? How does typicality relate to family resemblance?
People agree on what is typical vs atypical (sparrow v penguin) When asked if a bird in in the hall for example we think of typical birds rather than something like a penguin
What are phonemes? What are phonological rules?
Phoneme- Smallest unit basic speech sound that can make a difference Phonology: basic speech sounds (around 40 in english/sounds in our alphabet) -About 40 in English Rules? Rules acceptable in a given language - says nothing about meaning- just if combinations of sounds will sound okay for that language or weird If they have fewer sounds, the language will typically have longer words (Hawaiin)... you need a longer word to have something that's uniquely similar with fewer sounds. The origin of language is from South Africa (some have over 100 sounds or clicks. As you trace language out, the languages with fewest sound combinations are the farthest away from the homeland (Africa)
Why do people tend to prefer the basic level of categorization? What distinguishes the basic level from other levels? How can we predict which level of a category hierarchy will be the basic, preferred level?
Preferred for labeling • basic levels are learned first by children • people are faster to verify basic levels of categorization • The basic level relates to expertise. they have a more subordinate level of classification. we can predict the basic level by the amount of features it has the more the better. we can predict the basic level by the amount of features it has the more the better. Most general level Most recognizable level if superimposed images of horses vs all mammals Specific enough and general enough, perfect middle ground
Summarize the propositional (single-code) theory of mental representation. What are propositions, and what is the main advantage of such a single-code theory?
Propositional theory is the theory about abstract understanding or concept of the world. The way of thinking could be understood by visual memory. The visual memory are list of propositions. Propositions are the smallest belief of the world that has meaning that could be judged as true or false. They are units of understanding or beliefs. Propositions are made of concepts. Imaginal representation could be remembered as concepts. Propositional theory is only made up of abstract concepts. Also, this theory provides the thought that any understanding could be represented as a concept.
hat are the 3 problems of consciousness? How are self-knowledge, access consciousness, and sentience different?
self- knowledge: no real mystery here access to information: consciousness vs. unconsciousness, level of awareness sentience: a subjective experience, phenomenal awareness
What are the major metaphors of access consciousness? How does cognitive psychology typically think about access consciousness?
spotlight metaphor- majority of the mind is unconsciousness. A small amount of consciousness is in awareness. Tiny illumined area in a vastly light area the theater metaphor- consciousness is a small are in the rest of the mind. Idea that consciousness is a product of unconscious processes. All kinds of backstage process that are generating our consciousness awareness. Bulletin board in which consciousness is the board and other factors of the mind see the message on the board and communicate with it.
What is the difference between superordinate, basic, and subordinate levels of categorization?
superordinate level- a more specific level of classification Superordinate level-a general or abstract level of classification basic-level category a category formed at the level that people find most natural and appropriate in their normal, everyday experience of the things so categorized. A basic-level category (e.g., bird, table) will be broader than the more specific subordinate categories into which it can be divided (e.g., hawk, dining table) but less abstract than the superordinate category into which it can be subsumed (e.g., animals, furniture). A basic-level category will usually meet the following criteria: (a) It represents a level of categorization at which high resemblance among members of the category co-occurs with low resemblance with members of different categories; (b) it represents the highest level at which members have a similar general shape and is therefore the highest level at which a single mental image can stand for the entire category; and (c) it represents the highest level at which numerous attributes can be listed, most of which will apply to most members of the category (see family resemblance). The name of the basic-level category will generally be the term most frequently applied to the things in question in natural language, the term earliest learned, and the term that is most readily remembered. Also called basic category; natural category. Basic- It is the most general level at which prototypes make sense we see the greatest net increase at the basic level For superordinate levels we have less knowledge, as we move lower to subordinate levels our knowledge increases, but as we increase levels categories become harder to tell apart. • Sub: Specific, Sup: General superordinate category a high-level category that subsumes a number of basic-level categories. For example, animals are a superordinate category including the basic-level categories cat, fish, elephant, and so on. A superordinate category is usually characterized by (a) low levels of resemblance between members and (b) fundamental differences between its members and those of other categories (e.g., an elephant is not much like a fish, but both are very different from a tree). What is subordinate level categorization? a subdivision of a basic-level category formed at a more specific level of categorization
How about the finding that monitoring performance is also reduced in the unattended ear -- which theory does that favor, and why?
this theory favors the attenuation theory. we do have an input filter but a leaky one. there is quite a big difference in the attended and unattended ear. Attenuation-is processed for meaning to some extent but not enough. Leaky filter. DICHOTIC LISTENING (SHADOWING) EXPERIMENTS -simultaneous messages presented to both ears -Shadowing tasks; repeat one message as it is played -major result-very little information retained from the unattended message
Summarize the "problem" that perceptual systems (e.g., the human visual system) have evolved to "solve".
your brain is generating a model of the external world a pattern of activity in the brain the problem is that our input is missing information such as 3D dimension so we have to solve this by processing in our brains OTHER ANSWER? Vision>> Analyzed/brain>> perception/model.-We don't experience what is being "analyzed", it all happens unconsciously. The human visual experience is a construction of the mind, (Mental representation aka internal data structure).
What is the recency effect versus the primacy effect? What happens if a person is forced to do a few seconds of distracting arithmetic at the end of the list, prior to free reca
Recency effects refers to the ability to recall information that has been recently given Primacy effect refers to the ability to recall information that was given a while ago/information that was given from the start. If a person was forced to do a few seconds of distracting arithmetic, then they wouldn't be able to recall recent information as easily.
What is some evidence for Baddeley's idea of separate visual vs. verbal short-term memory stores?
Evidence for phonological loop - we find people confuse phonological similarity. Speech related tasks interfere with rehearsal tasks. Word length effect on memory span (syllables in a word are longer to rehearse and therefore you hold less longer words in short term memory) Visuospatial sketchpad - learn items in list verbally or imagery - irrelevant speech in the background interferes or visual distractors Evidence for the phonological loop( verbal short term memory)- acoustic similarity effect, irrelevant speech effect, word length effect, articulatory suppression Visuospatial sketchpad evidence- a visual background task interferes with visual task, visual flicker with imagery-based learning- did not affect verbal rehearsing., background speech with rote verbal learning- reduces learning performances of verbal learning strategies, verbal uses the phonological loop, visual distraction effects visual working memory, verbal distraction interferes with verbal working memory, each systems stores that sort of information
What is the serial position curve in free recall? How is it a demonstration of short- vs. long-term memory?
Experiments on free recall demonstrate better recall of the first and last few items on a list, and poorer recall of all the items in between. When participants are given a list of words and are asked to recall in any order. We find that they tend to remember the first few words (Primary effect) because they were able to rehearse them and the last few words because they just heard them (Recency Effect) Because participants were able to rehearse the first few items, they were successfully transferred to long term memory, while the last few items cycle around in our short term memory since they were just heard
What are the procedures and main results of laboratory studies on "prototype abstraction"? What is abstraction?
Face examples, shown multiple faces and are told to classify them The new prototype is added as a new stimulus and there is no issue in ability to classify them This means that people create a sort of mental prototype (Typicality Effect) Phase 1 - training Study instances, classify, Receive corrective feedback Phase 2 - transfer testing, Classify test instances, no feedback New, old, prototypical instances Summary of results • If a new example is the category prototype ppl classify it very easily • prototype easily classified even if never presented. • objects that are in the middle of the category are easily classified. • the prototype is the average that we came up with abstraction the process of creating a prototype or other summary representation of a category from exposure to specific exemplars of the category
1.)What is the fan effect? 2.)In what sense could it be described as cue overload?
Fan effect is the finding that memory retrieval is more difficult the greater the number of items associated with the cue item(s) Similar to retrieving multiple documents by using one search key. When a cue has too many associations it becomes hard to retrieve. Memory search always starts from a cue (search key) The more items associated with a given cue, the less effective that cue will be for retrieving any particular item
What are syntactic rules? How do they differ from phonological and morphological rules? What is the relationship between morphological and syntactic rules within different languages?
-Word ordering. (rules of order) (ex: big red ball vs red big ball, English speakers know which one is right without being able to tell you why or how they know that) -Negatively correlated -Just because it is grammatically correct doesn't mean it will be meaningful. -Syntax is a just device used to express meaning (not the same thing) -syntax and morphology are generally doing the same thing (there is a trade off between morphology and syntax... if it's rich in morphology than it's poor in syntax..., if it's rich in syntax than it's poor in morphology) -English is poor in morphology and rich in syntax
1.)What is proactive interference? 2.)Retroactive interference? 3.)How are each of these demonstrated in experiments on paired-associate learning (PAL)? 4.)How do the results of these experiments illustrate the "fan effect"
1.)Proactive interference: the inference of something you learned before the intended item 2.)Retroactive interference: the inference of something you learned after the intended item. 3.)Proactive InterferenceExperimental group- learn A-B, A-C; retention interval; test A-B Controls- learn A-B, C-D (or rest); retention interval; test A-B Results- poorer memory for A-B pairs in the experimental group 3.)Retroactive Interference: Experimental group- learn A-B, A-C; retention interval; test A-C Controls- learn B-D, A-C; retention interval; test A-C Results- poorer memory for A-C pairs in the experimental group 4.) "Cue overload" as an explanation for interference in PAL
1.)What is "release from proactive interference" in the distractor task? 2.) What makes proactive interference build up, and what releases it? 3.) What does this have to do with the fan effect?
1.)Switching stimulus category eliminates PI in the distractor test E.g., from letters to numbers, fruit names to animal names Recall returns to near 100% This is when the category of the items they had to recall is switched, only works before the list is given 2.)In PI in the distractor task recall is near 100% on first trial regardless of retention interval Effects of retention interval increases over trials Thus, forgetting due to build-up of PI 3.)Interpretation- buildup of PI due to fan effect (cue overload), changing stimulus categories provides new cue It is related to the fan effect because the multiple lists are tied to one cue. People do well in the beginning, and then they start to get worse
What are the major types of memory tests discussed in class, and how do they differ from each other?
1.Recall Memory retrieval in which a person must reproduce a memory item given the context in which the item occurred. 2.Recognition Memory retrieval in which a person is given a memory item and must decide whether that item occurred in a particular context. 3.Priming, An enhancement of stimulus processing due to prior exposure to another stimulus. Savings in relearning Material learned once and then forgotten is learned more quickly a second time.
Be able to summarize the different types of long-term memory and the characteristics of each.
Semantic: General knowledge, not from personal experience ( ex: capital of CA) Episodic: specific event in a person's life autobiographical events ( ex: high school graduation) Procedural : skill memory ( ex: riding a bike, driving, etc.) Declarative: can be said verbally ( both semantic and episodic memories) Implicit: refers to memories that do not depend on conscious awareness ( memories are brought to conscious awareness via priming) Explicit: see declarative memory
What do PET studies tell us about mental imagery? How is imagery similar/different than perception?
About 2/3 overlap in regions brain areas activated by imagery vs. perceptual tasks. The primary visual cortex is involved in imagery tasks. Activation of PVC in imagery tasks Role of PVC in imagery - representation of high-resolution details There is an activation in the primary visual cortex during imagery tasks, the PVC help to represent high-resolution details Having someone engage in a memory task, you get similar activity as imagining or seeing something.
Be able to describe how simple neural networks can store associations between different patterns.
1. Chemoreceptors-chemical sensations translated into Action potentials 2. mechanoreceptors -movement translated into action potentials 3. thermoreceptors-throughout the body, temperature sensations translated into APs 4. nociceptors-damage translated into APs 5. photoreceptors-light sensation
1. What are some of the advantages of connectionist memories? 2. How do they display content addressability, pattern completion and graceful degradation?
1. Distributed Content-addressable Pattern completion ("filling in") Graceful degradation 2. Content-addressable relevant based search. put in a "key word" or stimulating element example: trying to remind someone of their elementary school, present them of the smell to remind them of the experience Pattern completion ("filling in") you feed your brain, and fill in the missing elements the cue needs to be relevant to the memory ur trying to receive Graceful degradation refers to the fact that distributed memories are robust
What is a mental representation? What is the difference between a mental representation and a process?
A mental representation is the way we see our surroundings after the brain has molded what it thinks to be in our environment. The difference between a mental representation and a process is that a process is needed to receive a mental representation. The brain has to process all of the information and stimuli received from a room or space before it can give us a representation of what we should be seeing.
Be able to explain the scene perception and word superiority effects as they demonstrate top-down processing in vision.
A scene perceptual system is designed to interpret scenes. (Scenes like, still images; binocular still images; moving images; audio & tactile). Word superiority effects is a better visual recognition of letters when they are presented in a word context, compared to when a single letter is presented alone. Top down processing (also known as conceptually-driven processing), your beliefs, cognitions & expectations in part driven pattern recognition process. Some of this may be conscious, but some may also be unconscious. Basically, if you are expecting to come across a certain pattern, then you are focusing your attention on looking for evidence consistent with that pattern, and not just automatically processing whatever is in view.
1.)How do fan effects impact autobiographical memory? 2.)Why are distinctive events remembered better than routine events? 3.)Why does providing additional retrieval cues sometimes help us retrieve a memory that we couldn't access a moment before?
Fan effects matter in autobiographical. events that are distinctive and high emotional arousal are easier to retrieve and make it more memorable. providing more additional retrieval cues helps us retrieve a memory because the more cues we associate with an object the easier it will be to recall because there are more active cues. 1.)Not merely a function of time- more distinctive events recalled vividly after many years, less distinctive events forgotten quickly Routine events have multiple associations with them and distinctive events have low-fan cues 2.) The more emotionally arousing the even was once encoded, the easier to retrieve it Because they are low-fan cues, they don't have many associations (because it was a one-time event) 3.)• are there more mental representations in the brain? • representational systems o are there one or many o description vs. depiction ( a picture simulation of something) • Commonsense intuition vs. theoretical parsimony ( all else being equal. Does the evidence demand it?) Cue generation can help when there is interference for a particular memory, we use the cues
What are syntactic categories? How are such categories defined, and how do they differ from ordinary, family-resemblance categories?
Functional categories, different nouns do not resemble each other (no family resemblance) What makes it a noun is the role it plays in the sentence; a verb describes a change of state Rules of what are the acceptable ways to how words are organized in a sentence Syntactic Categories: role of a word in a sentence, e.g., noun, adverb, verb, adjective, etc. Syntactic Rules o Rules that govern word order [Red big ball or Big red ball?] • Syntactic categories o Nouns and Verbs • How they differ from ordinary family resemblance: syntactic categories do not resemble each other
How does the interactive activation model differ from the regular feature analysis model? How does the interactive activation model explain top-down processing?
Interactive Activation Model: Diagram shows how the word FORK activates the components of the interactive activation model. (Example of a Connectionist Model) When the target letter is presented within a word, the feature detectors, letter detectors and word detectors will all be activated, adding weight to the final recognition of the stimulus. When only the letter is presented, only the letter detector level will be activated. Therefore, we may remember the presented stimulus word more clearly, and thereby be more accurate in identifying its component letters, as observed in the WSE. According to this model, when a reader is presented with a word, each letter in parallel will either stimulate or inhibit different feature detectors (e.g. a curved shape for "C", horizontal and vertical bars for "H", etc.). Those feature detectors will then stimulate or inhibit different letter detectors, which will finally stimulate or inhibit different word detectors. Each activated connection would carry a different weight, and thus the word "WORK" in the example would be activated more than any other word (and therefore recognized by a reader). Connectionist Model: The central connectionist principle is that mental phenomena can be described by interconnected networks of simple and often uniform units.
How is does the Stroop task a demonstration of automaticity?
It demonstrates reading as an automatic response to a word. People's overlearned tendency to read a word interferes with naming the ink color in which it is printed (when the two conflict, e.g., the word "green" printed in red ink).
What is the main problem with the Aristotelian notion that categories are defined in terms of individually necessary and jointly sufficient features? What are some of the objections to the idea of defining features?
It is difficult to specify defining features that classify something into a category, there are borderline cases like: tomato=fruit? Or is a 3 legged dog still a dog? Problems with the classical view • Difficulty of specifying defining features e.g. games because there is no formal definition. • borderline cases- defining aspects of a category are very ambiguous. The definition does not always fit so perfectly. Many things just fit stereotypes. • Graded structure (membership)- even though something's are in the same category some may be less normal to be in that group
What is the computational theory of mind? In what sense does it provide a solution to the classic mind-body problem?
It is known as the "information processing" paradigm, computer analogy. It provides a solution to the mind-body problem by saying computers are like brains that process data.
What are "functionalism" and "platform independence", and how do they relate to the computational theory of mind?
platform independence refers to the fact that the same program can run on different physical machines Functionalism is a theory about the nature of mental states. According to functionalism, mental states are identified by what they do rather than by what they are made of. ... functionalism retains the traditional idea that mental states are internal states of thinking creatures.